Generally, an electrical connector includes a dielectric housing mounting electrically conductive terminals therein. The terminals are electrically connected to other circuit components, such as discrete wires. Connectors often are employed in mateable pairs such that each terminal and the housing of one connector are mateable with a corresponding terminal and the housing of another connector.
A poor quality electrical connection may occur if one or more terminals are not properly seated in their respective housing. The improper seating of a terminal in a housing may occur due to a variety of reasons, such as if the terminal is not completely inserted into the housing during the initial assembly of the connector or if the terminal is vibrated or pulled out of its fully seated condition during use of the connector. To avoid these problems, various connectors have been provided with some form of a terminal position assurance (TPA) system to detect incomplete insertion of the terminals.
In some applications, a primary locking means such as locking arms on the terminal or housing locks the terminals in the housing, and a TPA system or device may function as a secondary locking means. A TPA device may therefore include projections insertable into terminal-receiving passages of a connector housing to block movement of the primary locking arms away from a locked position. If a terminal is not fully inserted, the primary locking arm may also prevent insertion or locking of the TPA device to thereby indicate a condition of incomplete insertion of the particular terminal. However, if the TPA device detects that one or more terminals are not fully inserted or seated, a search is required to isolate and identify the incompletely inserted terminal(s). This can be a time consuming operation and adds to the cost of the connector assembly operation. The present invention is directed to providing a TPA system or device which not only acts as a secondary locking means, but also detects an incompletely inserted terminal and moves the incompletely inserted terminal to an inoperative and detectable position.